Bulawayo tops social media usage

Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter
BULAWAYO has the highest number of users of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, a survey has revealed.
According to the Zimbabwe All Media Products Survey (ZAMPS) conducted by The Zimbabwe Advertising Research Foundation (ZARF) for the second half of 2017, the province also has the highest number of people who use ATM cards.
Bulawayo recorded a 69 percent usage of Facebook while eight percent use of Twitter, followed by Midlands which recorded 60 percent Facebook usage and four percent Twitter usage.
Matabeleland North province recorded 49 percent for Facebook and two percent for Twitter while Harare and Mashonaland West recorded 46 percent Facebook usage, 18 percent and 10 percent Twitter usage respectively.
The rest of the provinces recorded 39 percent and below for the use of Facebook and 12 percent and below for Twitter usage.
In terms of age groups, people aged 26 to 35 top the use of Facebook at 60 percent while 54 percent of the people who use the social media platform are aged between aged 21 to 25, followed by those aged 15 to 20 years who recorded 51 percent.
The least users of Facebook are people aged 55 and above who recorded 12 percent usage.
The report indicated that most people use Facebook, which is the most popular among all age groups, for personal communication.
In terms of ATM card usage, Bulawayo is the highest in the country with 35 percent, followed by Harare with 31 percent, Midlands 29 percent and Masvingo 26 percent.
The rest of the provinces recorded 22 percent and below.
Econet has proved to be the most popular network provider with a 73 percent usage countrywide while Netone users are at 17 percent, Telecel at eight percent and Tel-One two percent.
ZARF was established in Harare in 1997 to commission market research on behalf of advertisers, the media, publishers, advertising agencies and public relations consultancies.
It was commissioned by the Topline Research Solutions (TRS), a regional market research consultancy, to carry out the ZAMPS study